Mixing Inks
by Toni42
Summary: (An anniversary present for Ariza Luca) There were nine of them, technically. Nine worlds, crafted and spun together like gleaming webs and words, stories and interactions, characters and concepts. All weaved neatly together by two pairs of hands, two minds, two imaginations, to the point where there was nothing quite like it. Blue wondered what else they'd create together.


**A silly little thing I wrote for mine and Ariza's anniversary! It's about all the MCSM RPs we've made over the last two years.**

**Hope you like it, cracker.**

* * *

**Mixing Inks**

* * *

There were nine of them, technically. Nine worlds, crafted and spun together like gleaming webs and words, stories and interactions, characters and concepts. All weaved neatly together by two pairs of hands, two minds, two imaginations, to the point where there was nothing quite like it.

They created worlds and stories by themselves as well, of course- Blue, as they were called to help distinguish them from the other Jesse's, had met the girl with spider-like limbs and the twins who knew the future and the one that spoke of demons and spells. Those Jesse's were, in a way, their half-siblings.

They were continuing Cursie's story today. Blue could see them, going about their daily routine, yet creating at the same time. Toni was ahead- he'd woken before her, had started his day before her, since he was in another part of the world- and was sitting in his last class at college, fingers at his keyboard. Blue glanced at the clock- 3:46 PM. A little over half an hour more and he'll be heading home.

Ariza, on the other hand, was still in the late hours of the morning. It was 10:46 AM for her, and she was doing some work at her computer in her dorm room. They both had an extra tab open, switching to it occasionally to continue Cursie's story. Cursie as in the Jesse that was cursed to die before they were even born.

There was a soft babble, and Blue looked down to see Louis toddling about. They smiled. Louis was apart of _their _story; a little boy with his little soul trapped within a stuffed rabbit. He had a voice box in his tummy, which was how he could babble in the first place. Their heart clenched slightly. God. A four year old.

At least the bunny was more mobile- and more communicative, thanks to the voice box- than the porcelain doll they'd found him in.

"What're you doing, silly?" Blue asked, smiling down at him. Louis made a happy sound and reached for them. Blue climbed down from their stool at the kitchen island and scooped him up into their arms, bouncing him. The bunny giggled.

What made Blue _Blue, _what made them stand out from all the other Jesse's, was their story. Their dark brown skin was dotted with patches of deep, lapis blue and their eyes gleamed a bright red. Half-Admin, long after their death as a full one. When they'd had a different name and a different life.

They touched a patch of blue on their cheek. They remembered- although they hadn't before, not until the Golden Gauntlet had recognised them, not until it had flashed and sparked and activated and brought everything rushing through their brain- and their chest would still ache. Even before they remembered, it would ache.

They supposed that's what happens, but your best friend makes your heart explode.

Literally.

The door opened and Amnie came in, rubbing sleep from their eyes. Blue smiled; Amnie was the oldest story out of all of them. 'Amnie' was short for Amnesia!Jesse. Fell from the Witherstorm and cracked their head open; no blood or brain spilt out. Only memories.

"'Lo, Amnie," Blue greeted, rubbing Louis' head, "Everything alright?"

Amnie nodded, yawning, and began to file through their collection of cereals, "Yeah… who'd they pick today?"

"Cursie."

"Ah. I like Cursie's." they poured themselves some Lucky Charms and sat at the island counter, "How're things with you?"

"Good. Did you remember to wake Kiddo?"

Amnie paused, spoon halfway to their mouth, "...Ah."

They sat their spoon down, stood and made a beeline for the bedrooms. Blue hid a smile.

Maybe they'd make some potatoes.

* * *

Jesse and Jess were the only ones that were called by their _actual _names, mostly due to the fact that no one had been able to think of a decent nickname for them besides the Mystery Twins- and even then, that was just using the name of the original versions of the twins from Gravity Falls, which was what their AU was.

The Mystery Twins were twelve and identical, although Jess had chopped his hair short with a pair of safety scissors (a difficult task) while hiding under his desk at school. Before, especially when their mother would force them to dress exactly the same for 'aesthetic' purposes (despite how much it made Jess' skin crawl), you couldn't tell one from the other.

The twins were sprawled on the living room floor now, hands and faces sticky from another one of their syrup races. Shifter was curled up on Jesse's chest as a cat- they were from the Shapeshifter RP, and particularly enjoyed being small enough (and adorable enough, as the others would say) to do this. Jesse wiped the sticky syrup from her hands so she could run her fingers through their fluffy fur. Shifter purred.

Kiddo came toddling in, bundles of papers and crayons clutched against their chest. Kiddo was the youngest Jesse, in the sense that they were literally a little kid. They were a toddler, just barely any older than Louis himself. They dropped their piles onto the floor and flopped down in front of them, picking out some paper and some rather colourful crayons.

"'Lo, Kiddo," said Jess, wiggling out from under the blanket he'd curled up in, "What'cha drawing?"

"Picture!" Kiddo beamed, already beginning to scrawl messily with a pink crayon, "For Toni an' Riza."

"Awww," Jesse cooed, shifting to look at them properly, "What kind of picture are you gonna draw them?"

"Is for their… their…" their little face scrunched up, "Ann-er-ree?"

"You mean their Anniversary?" Jesse asked. Kiddo beamed and nodded.

"Yeah!"

"That's soon, isn't it?" Jess asked. Shifter nodded their little cat head and mewed. Jesse sat up and the kitten plopped into her lap.

"I wanna make them something!" she said, "Can I borrow some paper and crayons, Kiddo?"

Kiddo giggled and nodded, pushing some towards her. Jesse tugged them closer with a thank you; Shifter jumped down and changed back into a human.

"What've you got in mind?" they asked. Jesse seemed to consider for a moment.

"What about a card?" she said this, then shook her head, "No, no, hmm… I wanna make 'em something big! And sparkly!"

Shifter chuckled and rubbed her head, "Sounds awesome. What about you, Jess? You thinking of making them something?"

Jess was quiet for a moment, thinking hard. Then he smiled and climbed out from under his blankets. "I've got an idea!"

He scurried off; Jesse kissed Shifter's cheek, earning herself a little tap on the nose, before she hurried off after her brother. Kiddo happily continued to draw squiggles and swirls that vaguely resembled a picture.

Shifter watched them for a moment. They hummed thoughtfully and fiddled with the phone Ariza had gotten them.

"Wonder if potato cake's a thing…"

* * *

"Oh my god," Shifter said, two minutes later, "Potato cake's a thing."

* * *

Starfall regarded the glitter covered bathroom with some confusion. It was everywhere; the floor, the walls, the shower curtain, the ceiling, the mirror, even all over the toilet. It was a big, sparkly mess, and they decided that they'd rather hold it than get covered in the stuff.

"Wow," said a quiet voice, and Starfall was surprised to find Emie standing next to them, peering over their shoulder, "That's… wow. Um. That's a lot of glitter."

Emie wasn't Emie because of their story- in fact, they were the one that went without a nickname for the longest, simply because no one could think of one that wasn't absolutely ridiculous. Emie was the Jesse that had died from the Witherstorm, only to respawn, perfectly fine and perfectly healthy, but without any memory of who they'd been before. They were a Jesse, of course, but they lacked a lot of things the other Jesse's had. Something that happened, Starfall supposed, when you were literally reborn.

The reason for Emie's name had nothing to do with this, however. No, after a good week or so of trying to figure out how to distinguish them from the other Jesse's, they finally settled on Emerald- Emie for short- due to them having respawned in a rather lovely green shirt.

Emie had liked it and that had been that.

"Yeah," said Starfall, "Um… at least it looks nice."

Emie smiled at that. Starfall went and got the cleaning supplies.

The two of them cleaned up the bathroom together, although it definitely still had a glittery shine to it even afterwards. Emie glanced at Starfall, who was in the middle of trying to scrub a particularly sparkly spot off the toilet seat.

"Do you think it was Jesse being creative again?"

Starfall shrugged, "Probably. She's likely gone to find Amnie or Blue to ask where the cleaning supplies is."

Emie nodded, fiddling with a bottle of cleaning spray. Starfall was one of those AUs where the characters are the same, but the world around them was drastically different and there's no sign of the canon storyline in sight. Their world was more fantastical, and they ran Starfall Tavern on the edges of a town that would celebrate if they were to go missing. That's the sort of thing that happens, no matter _how _nice you are, when everyone knows you're the child of the leaders of the most dangerous and feared group of monsters (they could hardly be considered people, really) in the world.

That aside, Starfall also had the apparent superpower of making the perfect drink for a specific person just by taking a moment to look at them.

The two carried the cleaning supplies back to the cupboards. They were just about to close the door when a rather glittery twelve year old came bounding around the corner.

"Is the cleaning supplies in there?" Jesse asked hopefully. Emie and Starfall glanced at each other. Then, with a small amused look, Starfall scooped Jesse up- ignoring, or perhaps uncaring, of the fact that they were now covered in glitter as well.

"Em and I already cleaned it," they said. Jesse winced, resting her head on their shoulder.

"M'sorry…"

"Don't worry about it, Jesse," Starfall ruffled the girl's hair; glitter puffed into the air and floated about to get on everything, "What were you doing, anyway?"

"I was trying to make a gift for Toni and Ariza," the girl explained, "It's gonna be their Anniversary soon."

"Anniversary?" Emie echoed, then smiled, "That's a cool idea, Jesse. What were you trying to make them?"

"I wanted to make a card," said Jesse, "But it looked boring, so I went to put glitter on it."

Starfall chuckled, "And instead you got glitter on everything?"

"Yeah," Jesse smiled sheepishly, "Except the card."

Starfall laughed, shaking her head, but squeezing the girl reassuringly to show her that it was alright and there was no harm done. Emie was looking thoughtfully at the far wall.

"I wonder if I could make them something," they hummed. Starfall shot them a smile.

"They'd love that. I think I'll make them something too."

Jesse cooed. Starfall gave her another squeeze.

"C'mon, let's get cleaned up."

* * *

Shifter and Amnie were in the kitchen, a recipe scrawled out on paper and pinned to the wall so they could both see it easily and not get anything on it- although that seemed to have failed, considering there was flour all over it.

Kiddo was at the table, happily scribbling away. When Emie peered at their drawing, they wondered whether those were supposed to be fat raindrops or potatoes falling from the sky.

"What're you guys cooking?" they asked. Shifter didn't even look up from their pot.

"Potato cake," they said. Emie blinked.

"Potato cake? That's… a thing?"

"They're more like fried potato discs, honestly," Amnie admitted, glancing around and trying to remember where they'd put the eggs, "We thought of making one big one, but we'll save that for experimenting and stuff later. For now, we're just gonna stack them all up."

"Think we could put candles in it?" Shifter asked, fiddling with the oven switches, "I know it's not their birthday or anything, but hey. Candles are fun."

Kiddo cooed and kicked their legs, "Yeah!"

They shot the little kid a smile, and they beamed at them. Their elbow hit some crayons and they went clattering to the floor; Kiddo blinked at the fallen crayons. Their eyes glowed a bright pink and they floated down to pick them up.

They could fly and heal. A gift from Romeo.

"You guys're making something for Toni and Ariza too?" Emie asked. Shifter nodded.

"Yup," they said, "They both like potatoes, right?"

"I mean," Emie considered this, "_We _all love potatoes."

"Hm! 'Oni does!" Kiddo exclaimed, floating back up to their seat, "An' 'Riza called her shi- iba-"

"Shiba Inu," said Amnie. Kiddo happily nodded.

"Yeah! She calle' that 'Tato."

Shifter and Amnie glanced at each other. Shifter shrugged.

"I think they like potatoes."

"Oh," Amnie blinked, "Good."

They went back to baking and Kiddo went back to drawing. Emie considered them for a moment, before turning and trailing away.

They wondered what they could make them…

* * *

Scout was spinning. Round and round and round on the swirly chair. Gray was watching her, face ever deadpan. Scout was starting to wonder if she might vomit. That would be kinda cool. Gross, but cool.

The door opened and she planted her feet on the floor. The swirly chair skidded to a stop, but the world kept turning.

"Hello," Gray greeted. Jess glanced between them.

"Oh, um… hi," he murmured. Scout giggled, stomach still flipping slightly, and blinked blurry eyes at him. She waved clumsily.

"Heya."

"You're from Paracosm," Jess stated, and almost winced, "Um… Toni's book."

"Yup," Scout said cheerfully, "And Gray's from 'Riza's visual novel. S'really cool."

"You guys aren't usually around…"

"No," said Gray, simply, "Not usually."

Jesse nodded, as though this explained everything, "Uh. Yeah. Are you, um, here for the anniversary?"

"Nah, just couldn't find a swirly chair to swirl in," Scout admitted, and promptly began spinning again, "But the anniversary's super cool too!"

Gray hummed in something that might have been agreement. Or not. Jess couldn't really tell. He wondered if all Grim Reapers were like that.

Or maybe he was just being presumptuous.

"Um, all the others are making them gifts or something," Jess said, shuffling his feet, "Jesse's doing something with… a lot of glitter, I guess, and Kiddo's making a card and Shifter and Amnie are baking them potato cakes and… uh… I don't really know what the others are doing."

"That's neat!" Scout beamed, "I'm gonna give them free hugs. Usually you gotta pay, like, fifteen cents for a hug from me. But they're gonna get _unlimited _free hugs." she stopped spinning again, took a moment to let the world stop spinning with her, and directed her beam at Jess, "What're you making them?"

"Oh. Um. I- I dunno. I thought I had an idea, but... well. Grunkle Ivor said they probably wouldn't appreciate something from the forest."

Scout blinked mismatched eyes at him, "Would you like us to help?"

Jess' face grew warm, "If- Only if you wanna…"

"I wanna!" Scout exclaimed, beaming again, and shot to her feet, "I'm great at presents! Do you wanna help, Gray?"

She turned to look at them, almost excitedly. Gray considered her for a moment.

"... Alright."

Scout cheered and flopped back into the spiny chair. Jess opened his mouth, closed it, and then offered an awkward, tentative smiled.

"Um… alright. Yeah. Okay. Thanks."

He was half-certain Scout's only real expression was beaming. Not necessarily a bad thing, though.

"No problem!" she said, "Now let's start brainstorming."

* * *

"You're horrendous at this."

"I know."

"Truly, truly horrendous."

"I _know._"

"I thought Teo was bad, but you're _really _bad."

"_I know._"

Scout regarded him for a moment, almost thoughtfully, "Have you ever made a card before?"

"Of course I have," Jess mumbled, a heat rising to his cheeks, "When I was a kid."

"You're still a kid," Scout pointed out. Jess huffed.

"A _little _kid."

"Ah."

"You're doing well," Gray said. Jess wondered, absently, if that was their way of being sarcastic.

Sighing, Jess took the sorry excuse for a card, crumpled it into a ball and tossed it into the trash. It hit the lid and fell to the floor instead. Gray picked it up for him; Jesse mumbled a thank you.

"Cards and glitter and junk just aren't really my thing," he said to Scout, "They're more of my sister's."

"Ah," Scout seemed to consider this for a moment, "Then what _is _your thing?"

Jess blinked a few times. He seemed to genuinely think for a moment, brow creasing thoughtfully. Scout and Gray waited patiently.

"Um…" Jess said, finally, "I guess it's… mysterious stuff? Supernatural?" he slumped slightly, "Not exactly stuff that makes great presents."

Scout shook her head, "We can twist it!"

"... Huh?"

"Twist it!" she repeated, "Give it a supernatural twist! We'll think of something. Just gotta brainstorm and stuffs."

Jesse stared, "Um… maybe."

Scout turned to Gray, "You know loads about supernatural stuff, right?"

Gray tilted their head in a nod, "Yes."

"Think you can help?"

"Perhaps."

"Awesome!" Scout shot Jess a wide, beaming smile, "We'll figure something out!"

Jess blinked slowly. He couldn't help but return her smile.

"Yeah. I'm sure we will."

* * *

Emie had slipped into their world with a small bag of iron and gold, tugging at the hem of their green shirt with a tad of unease. It wasn't often that they slipped into their own worlds while their Story wasn't in progress, but they did it occasionally. Mostly because their effects on the world while a Story was on 'pause' weren't necessarily… 'canon,' as Toni sometimes called it. As in, they technically never happened.

Emie didn't entirely understand it or how it worked, but they got it enough. Enough to understand that whatever they did in-world while the Story was on pause wasn't _permanent_.

Still. Maybe they'd find something in the market that would give them inspiration for gifts. Or maybe they'd even find something they'd be able to buy.

They were just making their way down the Order Hall steps when they were abruptly scooped up and pressed against a broad chest. They squeaked and flayed, but they were held securely enough that they didn't fall.

"Hey, Jesse!" Axel exclaimed, smiling at them, "Where're you heading?"

Emie huffed good-naturedly, slumping against him slightly, "Into town."

"Oh, cool. Mind if I come with?"

They considered for a moment, before shaking their head. Axel ruffled their hair, laughing when they swatted him away, and sat them back down on their feet.

The two of them walked into town together, a few people waving at Emie. They waved back awkwardly, wondering whether or not they'd known these people- or if these people had known them- before their respawn. When they were still… _that _Jesse. Their Jesse.

Emie's chest twisted slightly; Axel was happily talking about something or another. They hadn't even realised they'd zoned out. Now they had no idea what he was talking about.

They were walking through the market now. Axel stuck close to Emie to avoid losing them, although at least it wasn't that hard for _Emie _to lose Axel since he towered over at least half of people's heads. Emie, however, had to jump up and down to so much as catch a glimpse over them. Axel found it adorable. Emie did not.

It was a bit crowded, and they were starting to have trouble seeing the stalls. Which was why Emie kept doing the Jumping Up and Down Method in an attempt to see over people's heads and spot what kind of things were being sold at the stalls. In hindsight, this was probably a rather bad idea, considering just how crowded it started to get. It was a bit inevitable that they landed on someone's foot.

The person in question yelped and jerked back. Emie squeaked, staggered back, tripped on their own feet and would have hit the ground had Axel not caught them. The person hissed, wincing, before shooting them a hard glare.

"Watch where you're going!"

Emie flinched, heating rising up their neck, "So- Sorry."

Axel's face darkened, "Hey, dude, it was an accident," he said, "You don't need to scare them."

The person rolled their eyes, grumbling under their breath, and disappeared back into the crowd. Emie leaned into Axel, swallowing the lump forming in their throat. He rubbed their head.

"It's alright, Jesse. Ignore them."

Emie didn't answer. He picked them up, shifting them so they could see over people's heads, and continued walking. Emie blinked, before leaning into him again and muttering a thank you. He just shot them a smile.

He still acted like they were the old Jesse sometimes. Well, _most _of the time. Everyone did, really. It was the main reason they were Emie's friends. And also the main reason they weren't sure they were _actually _their friends.

They pushed those thoughts aside. It didn't matter. Not right now.

Right now, they needed to find some presents.

The two of them walked for a bit longer, until Emie pointed to a stall and Axel carefully slipped through the crowd to get to it. He sat them on their feet so they could look at it properly.

The stall was covered in seashells of all shapes and all sizes. Some had been painted in bright colours and covered in glitter; some had little drawings and patterns carved into them; some were naturally colourful, plain but beautiful, and there were some that had been strung into bracelets and necklaces.

Emie regarded the seashells for a moment. Something sparked in their brain.

They began to pick some out.

* * *

When Cursie came back, they were quick to get the gist of what the others were doing and start on their own present. Jesse was more than happy to help them out, especially considering they had less time than the rest of them to do so.

Kiddo glanced up from where they were watching Shifter set out the newly baked potato cakes, cooing when they realised Emie had come back. Emie shot them a small smile, sitting their shopping bag on the counter. Shifter glanced at it.

"What d'you buy?"

"You'll see," Emie hummed, accepting Kiddo's hug. Shifter shot them a curious look, but nodded and left it.

L.B. trailed in and sat at the table, placing a wrapped box in front of them. Amnie looked up from where they were cleaning up.

"Oh, hey, L.B.," they said, "Where've you been all day?"

"Forest," L.B. said. The lights glinted oddly against their fake eye. "Took me a while to find what I needed."

They patted the box. Emie leaned away from it slightly, suddenly deciding that they'd rather not be near it if it came out of a forest.

"Oh, cool," Shifter blinked, then smiled, "What did you get them?"

L.B. had arguably the most uncreative nickname out of all of them. It stood for the literal title of their story- _Left Behind. _Some had to stay in Cell Block X, after all; when a Jesse can't make a decision, most of the time it means they die. L.B. didn't die. But they very nearly did, as being crushed under loads of rumble may tend to do to someone, and had needed multiple surgeries afterwards. They had a new lung and a glass eye and many scars.

They heard the Main Door open in the other room, then familiar voices. They looked at each other. Kiddo's eyes gleamed pink and they wiggled out of Emie's arms to float to the floor. They started toddling towards the Main Door; the others quickly began to get things together.

Toni and Ariza were in the entranceway, mid-conversation. He handed her a wrapped gift, and she handed him one. Toni kissed her cheek.

"Happy Anniversary, cracker."

"'Vers'ry!" Kiddo exclaimed. The two looked down at them.

"Hey, Kiddo," Ariza greeted, lips twitching; Kiddo hugged her leg, cooing. She smiled and ruffled their hair. "What're you up to?"

"Made you some'ing!"

Toni shot them a curious look, "Yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"What did you make us?" Ariza asked. Kiddo beamed and pulled away, babbling something neither of them caught, before rushing off into the other room. Toni and Ariza looked at each other.

"They're kinda adorable," Toni stated. Ariza laughed.

"We _did _make them like that."

* * *

"Happy two years!"

Toni jumped back slightly, startled, as you do when you have a plate abruptly thrust into your face. The only thing that stopped him tripping over his own feet and falling was Ariza grabbing his hand.

Shifter shot him an apologetic look, before offering the plate again, "Amnie and I made potato cakes!"

Ariza cocked her head slightly, looking at the cakes, "Potato cakes?"

"Mm!" they offered one to her. "Wanna try it?"

They both did; it was rather good and they were still pleasantly warm. Kiddo ran back up to them, holding a makeshift card up.

"Present!"

Toni finished his potato cake and took it. He smiled. "Awww, thanks, Kiddo. This is seriously good."

Ariza leaned over to look at it, still munching on her own potato cake. It had a bunch of messy scribbles on the front, with _Happy Anavirsy _scrawled on the top. Toni had to squint at it for a moment before he realised the scribbles on the front were people, and then it took him a moment longer to realise it was him, Ariza, Kiddo and all the other Stories. His heart melted. Ariza swallowed her food.

"Awww, that's adorable," she shot Kiddo a smile, "Thanks, Kiddo."

Kiddo beamed, looking quite proud of themselves. Shifter gave them a potato cake.

"Does it taste good?" Amnie asked, glancing at the two creators. Toni nodded.

"It's delicious. Thank you."

Shifter and Amnie smiled. Jesse made them a card as well, although it was practically drowning in glitter that got all over their clothes (and all over Toni's glasses when he opened it) and had a rather lovely message inside saying they were so happy they got together.

They all sat at the table, munching on some more potato cakes, and Emie quietly pushed their present towards them. Ariza opened this one; it was a small white board, with tons of colourful seashells glued to its surface, forming a heart. There was a little latch on the back that split it in half; one for Ariza to keep and one for Toni.

"This is amazing," Toni said, squeezing Emie's hand, "I'll put it on that new bookshelf I got."

"I can probably fit my half somewhere on my desk," Ariza smiled, looking hers over, "Thank you, Em."

Emie smiled back, pleased and a bit relieved. L.B. fiddled with the hem of one of the bandages around their arm, before pushing their own gift towards them.

"For you guys," they said, "I know you usually don't get people gifts for them when it's their Anniversary, but… well. What's the harm?"

Toni chuckled, "Yeah, okay, fair enough. You guys really didn't have to get us stuff, though."

"Wan'ed to!" Kiddo exclaimed, clinging to Ariza again. She plucked them up and bounced them. Louis babbled his agreement from Blue's arms.

L.B.'s gift was all the building materials they could want- from all sorts of different woods to ores to diamonds to leaves to coloured wool to stones. It must have taken ages to get together, and both Toni and Ariza hugged them (carefully, since their wounds were tender) in thanks.

Starfall popped up next to them with a tray of drinks; one was bright pink and smelled of dark chocolate and strawberries, while the other was a cool blue and smelled of blueberries. They both had purple streaks and swirls through them.

"Made you guys something too," said Starfall, sitting the tray on the table, "I hope you like it. Might go good with the potato cake."

"Aw, thanks, Star," Ariza said, gladly accepting her pink drink, "It's my favourite colour too."

Starfall laughed, "Yeah, and it's fresh. First time I had the chance to look at you guys today, after all. It, uh, doesn't work that well when I can't look at them first."

Toni sipped at his blue drink and hummed; it was delicious, which was no surprise, "Thank you, it's wonderful."

Ariza made a sound of agreement, sipping her own drink. Louis wiggled, turning to look at Blue.

"Book!" he exclaimed, "Ge' book, Renren?"

Blue chucked and rubbed his head, "Yeah, yeah, I'll get the book."

Jesse shot them a curious look. She still had glitter all over her face. "What book?"

Blue just smiled and put a finger to their lips, silently shushing her. Then they railed away. Toni and Ariza watched them go curiously, before shrugging and returning to their drinks.

They were about halfway through them, chatting a bit with the others, when Ariza blinked and looked up. She had to practically crane her neck back.

"Hey, Gray."

Gray tilted their head, "Hello, Ariza. Pleasure to see you again."

Scout abruptly jumped onto Toni, almost causing him to spill his drink. He sat it aside and chuckled, scooping her close.

"Nice to see you too, Scout," he ruffled her hair, before looking at Gray, "How are things?"

Gray hummed, "Decent."

Ariza sipped her drink again as Scout told them about how they'd been helping Jess all day. When she glanced over her shoulder, it was to find said boy hovering in the doorway, looking awkward and unsure. Ariza smiled reassuringly. Jess bit his lip, clutching something to his chest, before hesitantly trailing over.

"-but Bharat said that wasn't a really good idea, so we thought this would be better!"

Toni shot Scout a somewhat confused look, "You thought what would be better?"

"Um," Jess shuffled his feet, and went a bit pink when they all looked down at him. He thrust the little package towards them. "We thought- uh- yeah. This would be better. I think. If you like it."

Ariza sat her drink aside and accepted the gift, ruffling his hair and almost knocking his hat off with her free hand, "Thanks, Jess. I'm sure we'll love it."

Jess went pinker and mumbled something, looking at his feet. Scout giggled.

"You _will _love it. I didn't even need to ask Ara to know that."

Ariza opened it, Jess watching nervously. She stared at it, a little startled, before pulling out two things by silver chains- twin necklaces, both with heart-shaped pendants, one glowing blue and the other glowing pink. They almost seemed to be pulsing.

"The, um," Jess shuffled his feet again, twisting his fingers, "The blue one's for Ariza and the pinks for Toni. It kind of, uh, beats alongside your heart. So- So the blue one beats with Toni's. So even when you guys can't meet up or really chat outside of texting, you'll still be together."

"Oh, wow," Toni breathed, as Ariza handed him the pink heart; he held it in his hand, feeling it pulse steadily. He looked up, and his own chest warmed when he realised Ariza was smiling at him. He smiled back.

"They love it!" Scout exclaimed, "See, Jess? I told you they'd love it!"

Jess smiled tentatively, looking relieved. Ariza tugged him over for a little hug, and Toni gave him one too. They put their necklaces on; they pulsed against their chests.

Conversation continued, Scout, Jess, Jesse and Kiddo running off to play. Toni and Ariza had just finished their drinks when Blue and Louis came back in, carrying a rather large book. They sat it on top of the table.

"Happy Anniversary, guys," Blue said, red eyes sparkling with a smile, "Cursie and I put it together."

Cursie nodded, "Yeah, I had a ton of photos lying around. Wasn't able to help much otherwise, though, 'cause it was my Story today."

"That's alright, Cursie," said Toni, "It's still amazing you guys got us anything at all."

Louis wiggled, "Book!"

"Yeah, boo, it's a book," Blue rubbed his head. Toni was the first to flip it open and paused, cocking his head slightly.

"Is that… ?"

Ariza leaned over to take a look as well, "How did you get pictures like that?"

"The first time you guys met," said Cursie, pointing to a picture of the two of them talking properly for the first time- they'd been complimenting each others stories in the PMs of, although the picture wasn't of their texts, but rather the two of them sitting together with each other's stories, "It took a few enchantments and we had to improvise a little, but the Witch was happy to help."

"Least she could do, considering she cursed you," Blue hummed. Cursie shrugged slightly.

Toni and Ariza kept flipping through the book. The majority of the first few pictures were of _The First Guests_, a story made by an old friend of theirs and the main thing that had brought them closer together in the first place. Then there was them first getting together, their first Valentine's Day only shortly after, the stories they created bit by bit and piece by piece. Everything they'd done together.

They reached the end; the rest of the pages were blank.

"For the rest of the memories," Blue explained, bouncing Louis, "The ones you're gonna make."

"This is amazing, guys," Toni said, "Thank you."

The potato cakes were finished, and the Stories chatted and cleaned up and the little ones played around. Blue put Louis down so he could go join them. Toni looked through the pages of the memory book, and Ariza ran her thumb over the beating heart pendant. After a moment, Toni reached out and squeezed her hand.

"Think we'll fill this book one day?" he asked. Ariza's lips twitched into a small smile and she leaned into him.

"I hope so."

"Yeah," he squeezed her hand again. Their hearts beat.

"Happy Anniversary, cracker."


End file.
